Bhagavad Gita

Shrimad Bhagavad Gita: Sankhya Yogam: Chapter 2: Verse 22

Bhagavad Gita - krishna

(Image Courtesy Mahanidhiswami)

‘Death’ is Natural So Is ‘Rebirth’

वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय
नवानि गृह्णाति नरोऽपराणि |
तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णा
न्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही || 2.22||

vāsānsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya
navāni gṛihṇāti naro ’parāṇi
tathā śharīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇānya
nyāni sanyāti navāni dehī|| 2.22||

Shloka Translation
BG – Ch. 2- Ver. 22:

As a person leaves old clothes and replaces them with new ones, the soul discards its old body and enters a new one when it dies.

Explanation

Shree Krishna continues to describe the nature of the soul by repeating the concept of reincarnation and comparing it to a common action. We discard worn-out and useless garments in favour of new ones, but we do not transform ourselves in the process. When the soul discards its worn-out body and takes birth in a new body somewhere, it remains unchanged in the same way.
The fundamental argument is that the everlasting essence (soul), or body dweller, exists independently of the human body. When a human body has served its purpose, the person who inhabits it discards it and receives a new one. But understand that the one eternal essence becomes attached to this or that body and recognizes itself to be that body out of mistake.

Verse & What we can learn

‘I’ am not the body, but the soul, it discards a body when it does not serve its purpose and occupies a new one. It (soul) does not change. As death is natural so is rebirth.

In the next verse, we will see Lord Krishna elaborating more on the nature of the soul.

Let’s learn to live with “The Gita” via Meditation Affinity…

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